RE: Salutation Question: Hi Fred, or Hi, Fred ?

["Combs, Richard" <richard -dot- combs -at- Polycom -dot- com>]

It saddens me that no one learns grammar these days:  
 
> >"Hi" and "Hello" are each a short message directly addressed to 
> >someone, which is why they are subject to the "direct address"
> >punctuation rule.
> 
> They're just an informal word substituted for "dear".

No, no, no, no! You're suggesting that the _meaning_ of "dear" and "hi"
is irrelevant, and that it's pointless to distinguish parts of speech.
You should be sentenced to a hundred hours diagramming sentences. "Dear"
is an adjective; "hi" is not -- unless you weren't taught to spell
either, and believe it indicates altitude or state of mind. ;-)

Fred is 100% correct. The only counter-argument that's not specious is,
"I consider email to be so informal that writing well isn't worth the
bother."

"It's my opinion, and it's very true."
Richard


------
Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
303-223-5111
------
rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
303-777-0436
------




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